


When One Dumbass Helps Another

by ihopethelightwillshineupon



Category: Free!
Genre: 5+1 Things, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Sick Amakata Miho, Sick Hazuki Nagisa, Sick Matsuoka Rin, Sick Mikoshiba Momotarou, Sick Nanase Haruka, Sick Nitori Aiichirou, Sick Ryuugazaki Rei, Sick Sasabe Gorou, Sick Tachibana Makoto, Sick Yamazaki Sousuke, Sickfic, Whump, added a bonus chapter about the samezuka boys because i wanted to, set before Rin leaves for Australia, very light angst but mostly friendly fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-01-20 14:48:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21283466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ihopethelightwillshineupon/pseuds/ihopethelightwillshineupon
Summary: When a persistent flu knocks down the entire Samezuka swim team, of course the Iwatobi team is there and ready to help out.In their rush to help, though, they don't take into consideration that they’re all disaster humans. And also that the flu is highly contagious.Soof coursethey all get sick afterwards. But there’s no need for them to worry; the rest of the swim team is there with tissues and terrible advice.These are six sickfics about the main characters of Free! ES. (And a seventh bonus chapter.)Or: 5 times the members of the Iwatobi swim team try their best to care for their sick friends (despite obvious incompetence), and 1 time they don’t even try at all.
Relationships: Hazuki Nagisa & Ryuugazaki Rei, Iwatobi Swim Club & Matsuoka Rin, Nanase Haruka & Tachibana Makoto, Samezuka Swim Club & Iwatobi Swim Club, Sasabe Gorou & Amakata Miho, Sasabe Gorou & Amakata Miho & Iwatobi Swim Club
Comments: 8
Kudos: 65





	1. Rin

**Author's Note:**

> It’s flu season. I’ve just finished the entirety of Free!. And 5+1 fics are fun to write. Put all of that together and you get… this fic!
> 
> I took the main characters of Free! Eternal Summer (season 2) and made them sick. One by one. Because I can’t be stopped. Suffer, fools.
> 
> And that’s pretty much it. I wrote six chapters, then a seventh chapter about the Samezuka boys.
> 
> I wrote this story with _some_ level of medical accuracy, because it’d be boring if I just bullcrapped the entire thing. However, I don’t know everything. Feel free to correct me on anything (I like to learn!), but please don’t expect me to rewrite the entire fic.
> 
> That’s enough of me for now! Enjoy!

People were dying.

At least, that was what Momo proclaimed loudly as he barged into Rin’s room at the break of dawn. Ai trailed quietly behind him, mumbling that he was going to wake up the entire floor.

Rin, hardly awake, raised a hand to rub at his eyes. “What’s going on?” he grumbled in a mix of sleepiness and annoyance – this wasn’t the first time Momo had woken him up with his antics. He could only hope that Sousuke, in the bed above him, was still asleep. The dude had a morning mood like you wouldn’t believe. “Please tell me you didn’t start a fire again.”

Momo laughed sheepishly, sending Rin’s nerves through the roof – oh God, he’d actually started a fire again – before replying: “No… It’s not that.” He wiped at his nose, which was the same dark red as the hair on his head. “I’m just here on behalf of the entire team. We’re all sick. I don’t think anyone’s coming to training today. Just a- ah, hahh--” He sneezed, startling Ai, who’d started to doze off already. “Just a heads-up. I’mma go back to bed. See you later.”

He trudged off. Ai paused to give Rin a sleepy wave, and then followed Momo. Neither of them closed the door, leaving the hallway light streaming into the room.

Rin sat up in his bed, debating whether he should get up, close the door and go back to sleep or just give up on sleep entirely. The sun was up, which meant that it was socially acceptable to go out and take a jog…

But then Sousuke spoke up. “What was that all about?” He was doing his best to hide it, but it was clear by the rasp of his voice that he’d caught the sniffles as well.

Rin sighed. Scratch that jog. If the entire team truly was sick, then he had more important stuff to do.

A headcount was first priority. Out of the thirty Samezuka swim team members, five were currently not ill. That was… not a lot. Rin decided to call off training for the day, and ended up having to call it off for the next day as well.

The day after that, the first team members were starting to feel well enough to swim again. Rin went easy on them, because they were tired and he didn’t want to overwork them. Momo got way overconfident regardless, and fell asleep in the locker room afterwards.

It took five days for everyone to get back in the pool. By that time, Rin was getting fairly certain that the sickness had passed. It had been annoying for a few days, and now it was over. Or… so he thought.

He thought he was safe.

He was not.

That’s what he realized when he woke up on Sunday morning, feeling like he’d smashed his face against a wall. It was a little past nine – far too late; he didn’t like to sleep in – and Rin felt exhausted anyways.

This… Well, this sucked.

He groaned, and rolled over in bed. He really had to get up; it was late, and he didn’t want to stay in bed anyways. His covers were all sweaty and gross. But the cotton in his head got the better of him, and his eyes slammed shut again.

The buzzing of his phone woke him up, a bit later. Rin sat up groggily and reached underneath his pillow. The clock on his screen told him that it was ten thirty, and his notifications told him he had a message. The mere force it took to hold up his phone made the muscles in his arm protest. Ugh. He was _not_ going to be able to swim today.

Squinting at his screen, he managed to decipher the message. It was from Makoto, asking if he was coming to hang out with the Iwatobi guys today.

Rin only had to take a good look at how badly he was trembling just from sitting upright, to know that he was definitely not going outside today. He could be happy if he got out of bed before noon, let alone out of his room.

_[Am sick. Sorry. Other time.]_

Makoto replied quickly. _[No worries! Is it okay if we come over to you, then? Or is it that bad?]_

_[Fine with me.] _He paused a second before adding: _[Be careful, though: it’s kinda contagious.]_

That did not stop them.

Rin had only just dragged himself out of bed and into a pair of sweats when someone knocked on his door. “Come in,” he called. His voice somehow cracked on those two syllables, and he broke into coughs.

“Jeez, Rin,” Makoto remarked as he walked into the room. “Are you okay? You sound like death.”

It was quiet for a beat before Haru muttered: “You look like it, too.”

Rin scowled at him. “I’ll survive, thank you very much.” His voice was far too hoarse for the intimidating tone he was hoping to achieve. “I should’ve seen this coming. The whole team was sick last week. I thought I’d escaped, but it’s… very persistent.”

He cleared his throat, already sore from those few sentences. At that, Nagisa perked up, and started digging around in his backpack. After a moment or two, he held up a yellow paper box, about the size of his fist. Rin couldn’t read the label from where he sat on the edge of his bed, but that didn’t matter. “It’s lemon tea!” Nagisa said. “And I brought honey, too. It’s really nice for when your throat hurts!”

“Nagisa,” Rei said, sounding concerned, “when did you pack that? And _why_?”

“At home,” Nagisa replied with a mysterious smile. “I had a hunch.”

“What the hell does that mean?!”

“Doesn’t matter. Hey, Rin? Do you have a kettle somewhere? I want to make you tea.”

“Yeah, it’s… in the kitchen, down the hall.” Rin was both very confused and glad that he was included in the conversation again. “But you don’t have to do anything for me. I can make tea myself.”

He already started to get up, but his friends protested loudly and all at the same time, so he sat back down. “It’s fine,” he said, “really.”

“No, it’s not!” Rei shouted.

“Please let us help,” Nagisa pleaded.

Haru just shrugged.

“What we’re _trying_ to say,” Makoto eventually tried to rescue the conversation, “is that we came here to help out, and that you should let us.”

They then left the room before Rin could stop them. Haru stayed behind and stared at the floor.

Rin rubbed his aching head under the pretense of running a hand through his hair. “I’ve never seen my room so crowded,” he said, smiling a little. “That’s a lot of people in so small a space.” He closed his eyes. “I’m glad you all want to help, though.”

He could hear Haru move around, but he wasn’t curious enough to open his eyes and see what he was doing. Instead, he just listened to his friend’s shuffling footsteps.

Eventually, Haru pulled up Rin’s desk chair, and sat down right in front of him. Rin opened his eyes, and pulled up one eyebrow. “What?”

Haru had never been easy to read, but this moment took the proverbial cake. His expression was more closed than Rin had ever seen it. “Haru?” he asked. “Is something wrong?” He stifled a cough – he didn’t want to cough right into his friend’s face.

Haru shrugged. After a moment, he mumbled: “Are you all right?”

Was he… _worried_? “Haru,” Rin said seriously, “you _do_ know what the flu is, right?”

He shrugged again.

Rin hummed in amusement. “I’m not dying, you know. The flu is just… a cold on steroids, I guess. I’ll probably be fine in a day or two, three.” He studied his friend, biting the insides of his cheeks as not to laugh. “Did- Did no one ever tell you that?”

“Didn’t think I’d ever need to know. Or care.”

“What the hell, Haru.”

At that moment, the door to the room flew open again, revealing a very rattled Makoto and the faint beeping of some alarm. “I’m really sorry,” he panted, “but we may have set off the smoke alarm… and also started a small fire, but that’s under control now… Please help, we don’t know how to get the alarm to stop…”

Rin ended up having to go downstairs to the reception in his pajama shirt and gross sweats to ask to turn the alarm off. He didn’t get any tea, either.

All of that was fine. In fact, even though his friends had done nothing physical to help fight his flu, they did make him feel a hell of a lot better. At least they’d taken his mind off of feeling sick.

Also, he spent most of his afternoon explaining several common illnesses to Haru.

He’d heard of none of them.


	2. Rei

Every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon, Nagisa went over to Rei’s to study together. It was a nice arrangement; Rei helped Nagisa with his homework, and Nagisa… could actually hardly do anything for Rei, unfortunately. He’d offered Rei money for his tutoring, but he wouldn’t accept it. So now Nagisa just gave him food any chance he got. He liked to think that that repaid Rei for his time and energy.

Today was Thursday, so Nagisa and Rei were on their way from school to Rei’s apartment. Their train compartment was silent; it wasn’t quite late enough for the evening commute. Nagisa was sure that the train home would be much fuller.

No, the compartment was completely silent… except for the sounds of Rei repeatedly sniffling and clearing his throat. Nagisa had noticed that he’d been very tired all day – he’d dozed off in pretty much each class they’d had today. It had stopped being funny after the first hour, and then it had become concerning. Nagisa hoped that he hadn’t taken over Rin’s sickness. It had taken Rin three days before he felt well enough to get back to school.

“Rei,” Nagisa broke the silence, poking his friend. “Are you sure you’ll be okay studying tonight? It’s fine if we call it off. I can get off at the next stop and go home, if you want.”

Rei scoffed. “I’ll be fine, Nagisa,” he replied. “I’m just tired. I’ll survive.”

“I don’t think you’re just tired. You seem sick.”

“I’m not sick.” He sniffled, reconsidered, and corrected himself: “It’s not that bad.”

Nagisa studied him for a moment, debating whether or not he was telling the truth, then asked: “Do you need a tissue?”

“…yes, please.”

Nagisa decided not to press the matter anymore, and went along to Rei’s home. He also decided not to comment on how badly his friend’s hand shook when he tried to get his key into the keyhole, or how his shoulders relaxed when he put his backpack down, as if they’d been carrying the weight of the world.

He did, however, stare – long enough that Rei turned around with an exasperated sigh and said: “Nagisa, please. Quit looking at me like that and come in. We have that English test on Monday, remember? We should use each second we have to study for that.”

“Yeah. I know.” Nagisa shook his head and walked into the hallway, shut the front door behind him.

Rei watched him for a second. “You can go to my room already, if you want,” he then said. “Do you want any tea?”

“Yeah, please.”

“Extra sweet, I presume?”

“You got it.”

Rei turned around to go and make tea, and Nagisa went into Rei’s bedroom. In the new silence, he could clearly hear his friend coughing loudly in the kitchen.

This was going to be a long night.

That hunch was first confirmed when Rei was in the middle of correcting one of Nagisa’s spelling mistakes and sneezed so intensely that the tip broke off of his pencil.

A few minutes later, he started complaining about it being so warm. When Nagisa gently reminded him that it was November and that the window was already open, Rei just glared at him and took off his sweater.

It took an hour, but eventually Rei was so out of it that he switched from English back to Japanese halfway through a sentence. It was by then that Nagisa started to feel like it was time to stop for a moment.

“Rei,” he said softly – his friend was staring intently at a page in his book, obviously not reading anything.

Rei jumped at the sound of Nagisa’s voice, and immediately fell into a coughing fit. “You startled me,” he managed to utter in between coughs. “What is it?”

Nagisa shrugged. “I think we should take a break.”

“What? Why?” Rei’s face was slightly pinkish, either from embarrassment or fever or coughing so hard. All three of those were reasons to rest for a moment. “I’m- I’m fine to keep going.”

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Nagisa humored him. “I just want to make some more tea. Do you want any?”

“Uh- Yes, please.”

Nagisa left the room with two empty cups and returned with two full ones, both balanced in one hand as he closed the door. “Sorry if it’s too sweet,” he apologized as he moved to put the cups down. “I wasn’t sure how you wanted your tea, so I put some honey in it. Maybe- Maybe too much honey. Sorry. I’d give you mine, but it’s even sweeter, so…”

Rei didn’t reply. That was… weird, because Rei usually complained when Nagisa brought him something sweet. Nagisa frowned, and turned around.

He’d been so focused on not spilling the tea that he’d completely missed that his friend had fallen fast asleep. He was leaned upright against the side of his bed, arms crossed. His glasses were getting dangerously close to slipping off of his face.

Nagisa couldn’t help but smile. Rei was bound to pass out at some point. He’d clearly been exhausted all day…

He couldn’t wake him up. The guy clearly needed his sleep. Plus, it really wouldn’t make him feel any better if he kept pushing himself to study, would it?

So Nagisa did the only thing he could bring himself to do. He carefully took Rei’s glasses off – what if they fell off of his face and broke? – and placed them on the table. Then, he wrote a note on an empty page in Rei’s notebook, and also doodled a little butterfly in the corner of the page, because he thought that Rei might appreciate that.

_‘I went home, didn’t want to wake you up. Get better soon!!’_

As quietly as he could, Nagisa put his books into his backpack, and got up. The last thing he did before leaving the apartment, was put a blanket over his friend. In case he got cold.

Rei awoke an hour later, sightless, far too hot and with two cold cups of tea. He texted Nagisa that he appreciated the gesture.

He did need to find his glasses, first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and/or comments if you enjoyed! New chapter will be posted on November 12th and will center around Haru!


	3. Haruka

“Haru? Ha-ru? C’mon man, hurry up. We’re gonna be late for school… again.”

Makoto sighed, and waited for an answer. None came. “Haru! I’m coming in.”

This wasn’t the first time that Makoto had stood outside Haru’s door yelling for him, and it wouldn’t be the last time, either. Haru may be fast in the water, but he _really_ liked to take his time on land. It was one of the things Makoto had come to accept about his friend over the years.

It was fine, really. Makoto was a naturally patient person, and it wasn’t like they were going to get in much trouble by being late to school – Ms Amakata never scolded them for long.

Still, it was in Makoto’s nature to try and follow the school rules, and being on time was one of them. So he opened the door with the key underneath the doormat, and went to search for Haru.

“Haru!” he called once again, but again, there came no answer. That was nothing new; Haru had a tendency to fall back asleep as soon as he’d turned off his alarm. Or to be so lost in thought that he didn’t think to react. Or to stick his head under water for reasons unknown and be completely deaf to the world.

Makoto’s footsteps echoed in the hallway. Man, the house was really quiet. Was Haru even here? What if he’d gone out to feed the cats on the street again and forgotten to come back? There was always something going on with the guy. Oh, well. At least Makoto’s mornings were never boring.

He checked the bedroom, first. It was empty. That was a good sign; Makoto never liked to wake Haru up. He always looked so… betrayed. Slightly terrifying.

Next up was the bathroom. Makoto had the common sense to knock before barging in – he’d seen his friend naked just one too many times. “Are you in there, Haru?” he asked. “It’s Makoto. Are you decent? We’ve got to leave.”

The other side of the door stayed silent, so Makoto pushed the door open and stepped into the room – and then almost immediately jumped back out.

Haru was in the bathtub. That was to be expected. But he was ridiculously pale, almost to the point of seeming blueish, and he didn’t react – not even when Makoto let out a startled shriek and banged his elbow on the doorknob.

Makoto thought that he was looking at a corpse, at first. That Haru had finally kept his head under water for too long and died, like Makoto had warned him about so many times. Then, his brain decided that he was looking at a ghost, which scared him even more.

And then, well, logic kicked in and he got even more frightened.

“Haru?” Makoto asked quietly, carefully getting closer. “Haru. Are you all right?”

He grabbed his friend’s shoulder to shake him. He was cold, so cold. What was he even _doing_?

Finally, Haru’s eyes fluttered open, making Makoto exhale in relief so quickly that he went dizzy. “Makoto,” he mumbled. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Makoto replied, giddy with happiness. “Hey. What are you doing?”

Haru raised a hand to rub at his head, splashing Makoto with water. “I was feeling really warm,” he replied slowly. “So I thought it’d be smart to take a cold bath. Must’ve fallen asleep at some point.” He turned to look at Makoto with unfocused eyes. “It’s fine, now. I’m feeling cool again. Are we late to school yet?”

One thing was clear: Makoto was _not_ taking Haru to school today. “Haru,” he said seriously, “it’s probably smart if you stay home, today. C’mon, let’s get you out of the tub. I think you have a fever, and you’re gonna catch your death in here.”

Haru didn’t object. Soon, he was sitting on the floor in the living room, a blanket tightly wrapped around his body and a hot cup of tea in his hands. His fingers were starting to look a little less blue, as was his face, to Makoto’s deep relief. He was still exasperated at how Haru had fallen asleep in near-freezing water, but couldn’t bring himself to scold his friend.

He’d spent the last few minutes Googling the symptoms of hypothermia and reading them aloud to Haru. He didn’t seem to be displaying any of them. That was absolutely awesome news, because he _really_ didn’t deserve to end up in the hospital because of some stupid mistake.

Makoto put his phone away, and gave Haru a shaky smile. “Are you feeling better, now?”

“Hm,” Haru mumbled around the rim of his cup. “I’m really warm again. Are you sure this is right?”

“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s normal to feel hot when you’re sick. There’s no need to worry.” Makoto tried his best to keep his voice from trembling. The adrenaline still hadn’t left his system. Jeez, what a way to start the day. “Just… please don’t try to cool yourself down again. Spending a long time in cold water is generally a bad idea.”

“I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

“I know you won’t,” Makoto replied softly. “There’s no need to apologize.”

“Okay.” Haru took a sip from his cup, and almost immediately choked and broke into coughs. Makoto dashed forward to rub his back. Some of the tea spilled over the edge of the cup, and onto the carpet.

Haru finally calmed down after half a minute, so Makoto slowly let go of him. Haru looked up at him, eyes watery from the coughing. “You don’t have to worry, Makoto,” he said hoarsely. “You said it yourself. I’ll survive.”

Makoto nodded, and exhaled. “You keep scaring me, buddy,” he replied with half a smile. “I think I’m gonna stay here with you, or I’ll probably have a heart attack before lunchtime.”

“That doesn’t sound good.”

“I meant that I’d drive myself crazy if I didn’t know whether you were okay or not.”

“That doesn’t sound good, either.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Makoto agreed, pulling his phone from his pocket. He made a quick call to the school, calling Haru in sick and explaining the situation. Makoto was given permission to miss school today, as long as he did his homework. No problem at all.

Then, he sent a message to the swim club’s group chat, to let Rei and Nagisa know that they were going to miss practice later. The replies came quickly, so Makoto read them to Haru so that he wouldn’t feel left out.

Nagisa replied first. _[Aw man!] _he wrote. _[It’s gonna suck to have to miss you guys today! Is Haru okay?]_

_[He’s a bit feverish, so I’m staying with him to keep him company. He’s probably got the flu Rin and Rei had earlier.] _On Haru’s request, Makoto left out the part where he was scared that Haru might send himself to the hospital with hypothermia. There was no point to embarrass Haru, and to make their friends worry even more.

_[Tell Haru to get well soon]_ was Rei’s answer. After a moment or so, he added: _[Nagisa, by the way, are you texting in class?]_

_[So are you!!]_

Haru’s mouth turned to a soft smile when Makoto read those text aloud. Makoto himself grinned as well, and wrote: _[Both of you, pay attention in class. We’ll see you tomorrow, or the day after that.]_

_[No way!] _Nagisa sent back. _[We’re coming over when school ends! Ask Haru if we have to get him something!]_

Haru just shrugged, so Makoto replied that just visiting was enough, and that they should put their phones away. After some protesting and more well-wishes, Nagisa finally did.

Makoto sighed, grinned, and pocketed his phone. In front of him, Haru yawned, and ducked his chin into his blanket.

“What’s up?” Makoto asked. “Are you tired?”

“A little. It’s… very warm.”

“Maybe you should lie down for a moment.”

“Hm. Maybe I should.” Haru yawned again and looked up at Makoto. “You know… I could do with a bath.”

“Yeah, uhm… Let’s not do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promised this chapter would be up yesterday, but I've been so busy that I literally forgot to update. Sorry! Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Nagisa

Nagisa often proclaimed himself to be immortal. Sure, Rei couldn’t prove him wrong as nothing had actually _killed_ him yet, but it was alarming nonetheless.

The blond rascal seemed to worry about absolutely nothing. Rei warning him that it was certainly too cold to be out without a coat? “It’s fine!” Makoto telling him that it was dangerous to sit on top of a fence, and that he was going to break something? “This is perfectly safe!” Gou complaining that his food contributed nothing to his immune system and dental health? “Don’t worry about it!”

The problem was that hardly anything ever stopped Nagisa, aside from Rei, occasionally. He liked to sit in high places, and had never fallen down. He didn’t catch colds, didn’t get cavities. And Nagisa just took that as proof that he could keep doing dumb stuff without any consequences.

But today, not even a trace of that stupid overconfidence could be found on Nagisa’s face.

It was so bad that Rei had hardly even recognized his friend, that morning at the train station – that’s how deeply Nagisa had been frowning. When Rei had asked him what was wrong, he’d muttered something unintelligible and said nothing otherwise. He hadn’t even eaten a snack at the station, even though that seemed to be among his favorite moments of the day.

During the morning classes, Nagisa had been quiet as well. Which was reason to worry, because it was usually hard to get him to shut up.

Eventually, the bell rang, signaling that it was time for lunch break. Most of the other students scrambled to put their books into their bags and get out of the classroom. Nagisa, while usually also eager to leave, was slow. It seemed to cost him loads of effort to close up his books and put them away.

When a notebook eventually slipped from his hands and landed on the floor, Nagisa just froze and stared at it. Rei, who’d been waiting for him, moved to pick it up.

“Nagisa,” Rei said softly, putting the notebook in Nagisa’s bag. “What’s going on?”

It was only when Nagisa didn’t reply, his head still bowed, that Rei realized that he was crying.

Without saying anything, Rei wrapped his arms around his friend and pulled him close. They were alone in the classroom; they could stand here for as long as they needed to.

Rei closed his eyes as Nagisa sobbed against his chest, willing himself to keep it together. He may not know what was wrong, but seeing his friend so distraught made him upset as well.

They stood there for about five minutes before Nagisa calmed down enough to speak. “Sorry,” he mumbled, pulling away from Rei to rub at his eyes. “Sorry – I-I didn’t mean to break down like that. I’ve just… I’ve been feeling _horrible_ all day.”

Rei sighed in sympathy. “You’ve gotten sick as well, haven’t you?”

“Guess so.” His voice was terribly frail. Rei stuck out his hand, put it on Nagisa’s forehead. It was warm – Nagisa had a fever, that was undeniable.

“I don’t think you should sit out the entire school day,” Rei said seriously. “That’s not going to do you any good. I can take notes for you, if you want.” He was already thinking out a plan. “Your parents work during the day, don’t they? So they can’t come to pick you up. I can ask if I can accompany you on the train – I’m sure no one will mind if I miss a class or two--”

“Rei,” Nagisa said, cutting him off gently. “I can’t go home. I just… can’t.”

“What?”

“I’ll be okay, here,” he replied, not even seeming convinced himself. “I’m not even that sick. I can rest when school is over. It’s fine.”

It only took a single look at Nagisa’s face to notice that he was positively miserable. “No,” Rei said. “It’s not fine. What’s going on, Nagisa? Did you parents say something again?”

When Nagisa nodded, Rei was neither reassured nor surprised. “I wasn’t feeling well when I woke up,” he said quietly. “So I told my parents and asked if I could stay home. They sent me to school anyway. And,” he mumbled, voice hitching, “they said that if I came home during the day, I’d regret it.”

Rei bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t scream. “Unbelievable,” he growled. Here his friend was, sick and in tears, because of his parents. There was something fundamentally wrong about the Hazukis’ parenting techniques, and it was _enraging._

But Rei needed to keep thinking. If he did something rash right now, Nagisa would get in serious trouble. A plan was formed quickly. “I’ve got an idea,” Rei said after a while. “Nagisa. How about you just come over to my house for the afternoon?”

Nagisa sniffled. “What if my parents call school?” he asked. “If they find out I missed classes, they’ll get so mad.”

“I’m sure I’ll think of something,” Rei muttered, tapping his finger to his chin. “They’ll call reception to check, right?”

“I think so.”

“Right.” Rei straightened his back. “Just wait here. I’ll be back in a second.”

He went right to the reception desk. The receptionist, a friendly elderly woman, smiled at him. “Good afternoon, Ryuugazaki.”

“Hi,” Rei replied, slightly out of breath from power-walking through the school. “I’d like to report my friend sick. Hazuki Nagisa.”

“The blond kid in your class?” the receptionist asked. “I’m sorry. Tell him to get well soon.”

“I will. Thank you.” Rei frowned a little. “The thing is, he can’t go home, and his parents _cannot_ know that he was reported sick. So, I need a favor.”

“What is it?”

“Like I said,” Rei said, “Hazuki can’t go home. I’d like to ask permission to miss class, so that I can take him to my place safely. I’ll be back right afterwards – it’ll take me an hour by train.”

“Permission granted. I’ll keep you to that hour, though. Don’t stay away for longer.”

“Thank you. Just… one more thing.” Rei felt as if he was asking too much, but this was important. “If Hazuki’s parents call to ask if he missed any classes today, could you _please_ tell them that he was in school all day?”

The woman regarded him seriously from behind her glasses. “I can tell you’re worried,” she said. “And I know that you wouldn’t ask something like this if it wasn’t important.” She nodded. “I won’t tell Hazuki’s parents that he left for the afternoon.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Rei felt as though he might collapse with relief. “I’m glad you trusted me.”

“Ryuugazaki,” she said, “you helped organize the library for four years. And I don’t think there’s anyone in school who hasn’t been late a single time, except for you.” She smiled. “You don’t seem like the type to help friends skip school so they can smoke drugs in parking lots. Now, leave. Tell your friend that he can go.”

“Thank you,” Rei said again, and sprinted off.

Nagisa was still waiting when he got back, on the exact same spot. When Rei explained his plan to him, he promptly started to cry again, thanking him over and over. He really must be exhausted, because by the time the two reached the station, Nagisa had gotten so tired that Rei had to carry him on his back.

When Nagisa was finally tucked into Rei’s bed, Rei’s anger still hadn’t died down. But until they figured out how to have a safe conversation with Nagisa’s parents, just bending the rules was going to have to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Makoto is next... Tune in next Thursday!


	5. Makoto

It was completely quiet outside. There were no birds to sing, no wind to ruffle the few leaves that were left on the trees. Normally, you might even hear the sea from here, but even that soothing rush somehow stayed off.

Haru stood on the porch to Makoto’s house, pondering whether or not he should disturb the perfect silence. Nagisa and Rei waited behind him.

Eventually, it was Nagisa who first made a sound. “What’s wrong, Haru?” he asked. His face was pale with cold or leftover sickness – pale and perfectly even-colored, like the sky. Not a single spot on it.

Haru sighed, and stuffed his gloved hands into the pockets of his coat. “Are you sure that Makoto’s actually sick?” he asked. His voice was more breath than sound, leaving his mouth in puffs of white cloud. “If he’s just skipping class to study, then I don’t want to disturb him.”

“He didn’t respond to any message we sent him,” Rei replied. “That… doesn’t seem like him.”

“Plus, he wouldn’t just skip swim practice without saying anything!”

“Fine, then,” Haru said, ducking his head into his scarf. He turned around, raised his hand, and knocked on the door.

His knuckles were wrapped in the wool of his glove, so they hardly made any sound on the wooden front door. Haru had just raised his hand to knock again when the door cracked open, revealing two small forms.

The twins. Haru kneeled, so that they were eye-to-eye. “Hey,” he said. The porch was very cold underneath his knees.

“Hi, Haru.” Ran, who’d actually opened the door, stood on her toes and peered past Haru. “Hi Rei, and Nagisa. You’re here for Mako-bro, aren’t you?”

She said it in such a grave tone that Haru would’ve actually believed his friend to be dead, if he hadn’t seen him perfectly healthy at swim practice the day before. “That bad, huh?”

Ran shrugged. Ren, behind her, mumbled: “We don’t know. Mom doesn’t let us in the room with him. She says we’ll get sick, too.”

“She’s probably right.” Haru pushed himself upright. “Would you please let us in, though? We just want to see how Makoto’s doing.”

The siblings shared a serious look before opening the door fully. Haru stepped into the hallway. It felt strange, as if he wasn’t supposed to be there. He’d hardly ever been in Makoto’s house without the friend in question right in sight. He felt… like an intruder.

Haru thanked the twins for letting them in, even though he felt uncomfortable and wanted to leave. He shot one last glance at the front door, but Rei had already closed it behind him.

“Mako’s upstairs, in his bedroom,” Ren said, pointing at the stairs.

“Mom’s up there, too,” Ran added. “Don’t tell her we let you in, though. She might get mad at us.”

“Sure.” Haru was already drifting towards the staircase. Nagisa and Rei followed him, after a polite bow to the two younger children.

Surely enough, the door to Makoto’s room opened before Haru could even reach the top of the stairs, and Mrs Tachibana came out. “Oh,” she said, with a smile that looked as if she’d rather frown. “I thought I heard someone. Hi, boys. How’d you get in?”

“Window,” Haru replied.

Mrs Tachibana smiled fondly. “The twins let you in, didn’t they?”

“They did,” Rei replied from the bottom of the stairs, before Haru could say anything. “We came to see if Makoto is okay, Mrs Tachibana. Is there any chance we could see him?”

Makoto’s mother frowned a little – a look Haru didn’t like to see on her usually so kind face. It meant that she was worried. “I understood that all of you have already had this flu,” she said after a moment. “I won’t stop you from visiting my son. Just… If you start to feel like he’s exhausting himself, leave him alone. You know he’s too friendly for his own good, and I don’t want him to make himself even sicker.”

Haru nodded. Mrs Tachibana nodded back, and stepped aside. “Call for me if something’s wrong,” she said, before going downstairs and disappearing from Haru’s sight.

Haru’s hand felt heavy and hard to lift. It was as if his woolen glove had suddenly turned into concrete.

Thankfully, he did not need to knock, this time. From behind the door, a voice sounded quietly. If the world hadn’t been so silent, Haru might not have heard it.

“Who’s there? Haru? Is that you?”

Haru’s hand was suddenly lots lighter. Light enough to slide open the door to Makoto’s room, and step inside.

Makoto was in bed, half-lying half-sitting against the wall. There was a pillow propped behind his back, and another behind his head that Haru recognized from the couch downstairs. His blanket was pulled up to his chin, yet he appeared to be trembling.

And he looked _terrible_. There was no other word for it. His hair stuck to his forehead, almost as if it was wet, and it _was_ wet, with sweat and not with water. And his face was all shades of white and red, two shades that a face shouldn’t be. He looked at Haru through his eyelashes, as if he could only keep his eyes open for seconds at a time.

And his room… His room was a mess. It almost hurt Haru’s eyes, because there were so many things to notice. Makoto’s nightstand was particularly bad. It was littered with the plastic cases of painkillers or medicine, and a thermometer, and a couple of empty tea cups, and tissues…

“Haru.” Makoto tried to shift into Haru’s view, looking as if he was too tired to smile but smiling anyway. His voice was hardly even there. “Are you okay?”

“We could ask you the same thing,” Rei said – he and Nagisa had come in when Haru wasn’t paying attention. “You aren’t… looking so hot, my friend.”

Makoto’s smile grew a little wider. “Heh. I’m not feeling so hot, either.” When he saw how Haru’s expression changed from grim to funeral-esque, he quickly added: “I’ll be fine, though! It’s just… a little crappy right now…”

His body shook with a coughing fit. When it finally stopped, his smile had disappeared from his face. He closed his eyes. “Sorry,” he said, even hoarser than before. “I can’t really be sociable, right now. I’m… _so_ tired.”

“We could leave you alone, if you want.” Haru shrugged. “Your mom told us to.”

“Yeah, I heard,” Makoto replied. “You don’t have to leave. It doesn’t help if I’m alone, anyway. I’ve been trying to fall asleep for hours, but it’s no use. I just… can’t.”

At that, Nagisa turned to Haru, eyes glimmering. “I’ve got an idea,” he said. “Mako. We might be able to help.”

And so they got to work. The light in the room was dimmed, the curtains closed. Nagisa borrowed a nightlight and a stuffed animal from the twins, with permission of course. Rei and Nagisa sat down on the floor. Haru remained standing. Sitting on the floor made him feel small, and he was feeling small enough as he was.

They tried reading to Makoto, first. Rei took out a random book from the downstairs bookshelf and read, which went well enough until the exact moment that Rei realized that he’d picked one of Mrs Tachibana’s horror novels and was just stressing Makoto out.

After that, Nagisa sang a lullaby, which wasn’t the greatest idea, because his voice kept cracking and messing the melody up. Makoto had a bit of a laugh about that, though, so at least it was a step up from the horror story.

They tried a _lot_. Nagisa sought the twins’ help to gather as many stuffed animals as he could. Haru went downstairs to make tea. They opened the window for some fresh air, closed it again, brought an extra blanket and then put the blanket away before Makoto could overheat.

Nothing worked.

Eventually, after Rei had read the WikiHow article on how to fall asleep out loud, the three healthy swim club members put their heads together in the corner of the room.

“Nothing seems to be working,” Rei hissed in despair.

“It’s fine! We can just keep trying,” Nagisa replied optimistically.

“Maybe we should just leave him alone,” Haru said pessimistically.

“Hmm… Guys, I appreciate the help…” Makoto mumbled behind them.

Slowly, the three turned around, in shock and disbelief.

Makoto…

Makoto had finally fallen asleep.

Nagisa opened his mouth to cheer, but Rei managed to shush him just in time. “We should be quiet,” he whispered with his hand clasped firmly over Nagisa’s mouth. “Maybe this is a good time to leave.”

Haru nodded at him, and slid the bedroom door open as quietly as he could. Makoto stirred in his sleep, but didn’t wake up. He looked peaceful, cast in the nightlight’s soft orange glow and no longer shivering.

For now, Haru was glad that the world was quiet. It allowed his friend to sleep soundly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I honestly felt a bit bad for poor Makoto after this chapter...
> 
> Next chapter (which will be posted November 26th, next Tuesday) will be the +1 of this 5+1 fic! The kids don't even try to help in this next chapter...


	6. +1

It took Makoto five days, but he finally got back to school. Naturally, the swim team was overjoyed; for the first time in weeks, they were all back together!

To celebrate, they decided that it’d be fun to visit the newly-opened aquarium on Sunday. It was an hour’s trip by train. They had planned to go all by themselves.

Four kids, who also happened to be hugely chaotic, taking such a long trip all alone? Their poor coach and homeroom teacher just couldn’t handle the thought of what they might get up to.

And so, Coach Sasabe Gorou and Ms Amakata Miho found themselves in the entrance hall of the aquarium. By themselves. Because naturally, the kids had all run off.

That wasn’t really a problem. Gorou was used to having the rascals out of his sight. As long as they weren’t out of earshot – that way, he could intervene if he heard glass breaking or someone yelling for Haru to stop stripping.

Amakata, though, seemed less reassured. “We should probably go find the students,” she said, tone nervous. “I do feel responsible, even if it’s my day off.”

Gorou shrugged in reply. “They can handle themselves. You shouldn’t worry. They don’t usually cause fires in a place with so much water.”

“I understand.” Amakata seemed unconvinced, but dropped the subject anyways. Instead, she huffed a laugh and drew her coat closer to herself. “Gosh. It’s cold in here.”

She was right; it was a bit chilly. Gorou gave her his jacket quickly.

Even though Amakata was now bundled in two big coats and a sweater, it did nothing to stop her trembling. “Jeez,” Gorou said, eyeing her. “Are you okay? I don’t think you should be shaking like that.”

“It’s quite all right,” she replied with a small smile. “I’m a bit under the weather, I think, that’s all.”

“’Tis the season,” Gorou replied with a sigh. “Sure hope that you don’t have that demonic flu the kids all had. That might ruin your week for a bit. C’mon,” he said, holding out his hand, “let’s go find somewhere to sit. We’ll probably catch up to the kids soon enough.”

Amakata nodded quietly, and took his hand.

Sure enough, the Iwatobi kids were right around the corner, staring at colorful fish in a large tank. There was a small bench nearby, where Amakata sat down. Not really knowing what else to do, Gorou just sat down next to her and left her alone otherwise.

He took to observing the kids. Nagisa, ever energetic, was pointing out fish left and right to Haru, who seemed surprisingly entranced by what he had to say. Rei seemed pretty excited as well – what with all the beautiful colors to look at – and occasionally responded to Nagisa’s shouting with an in-depth analysis of why this particular fish looked so pretty. And Makoto simply looked very happy to be with his friends.

He should be happy – he deserved it. From what Gorou had gathered, the poor kid had had a rough week. He’d been the sickest of everyone, so it only made sense that he was glad to be up and standing again.

In the time that Gorou was lost in thought, he hardly noticed that Amakata had started to lean on him more and more heavily. By the time he finally looked to see what was going on, she’d fallen asleep.

Naturally, his first reaction was panic. People might think them lovers! What if the kids thought that? What would that do to their respect for her?!

He pulled himself together rather quickly, though – he didn’t want to jostle her awake. There was no reason to stress. Amakata wasn’t feeling well, dammit! And if she had to use his shoulder as a pillow in order to rest a little bit, then he was going to let her do that! He needed to stop being so childish. To just go with the flow. Chill.

“Coach? Is everything all right?”

…curse his stupid attitude.

Gorou could barely stop himself from shouting a startled reply right at Makoto’s face. Luckily, the kid added quickly enough: “With Ms Amakata. Is she okay?”

“Oh.” Gorou glanced at her, to make sure he hadn’t woken her up. “She said she wasn’t feeling well.”

Makoto’s brow crinkled. “I feel sorry we dragged her along, then. We probably should’ve noticed.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and continued before Gorou could contradict him: “Anyway, we’re going to move on. You can just stay here, if you want. We’ll come and get you if something’s up.”

Gorou considered that for a second. “Nah,” he replied eventually. “I’d prefer to keep an eye on you. Go ahead. I’ll catch up with you in a moment.”

Makoto nodded, and took the rest of the team with him to the next hall. Gorou then turned around and scooped Ms Amakata into his arms. She was a small woman, and light, so she wasn’t all that hard to carry. She was also very warm, Gorou noticed, despite the fact that she was still shivering underneath all those coats.

Dang. She was a bit of a people pleaser, wasn’t she? To take a trip an hour away from home, despite being sick.

Well… The same thing could be said for Gorou himself, honestly. He’d woken up with the most hellish headache. Instead of considering staying in bed on his day off, he’d downed some ibuprofen and hoped that that’d solve the problem. It did, but it was going to suck if his headache came back; he hadn’t brought any painkillers with him. A dumb move, but oh well. That was a problem for later.

He carefully laid Ms Amakata down on a bench in the next hall. Realizing that that left no space for Gorou himself to sit down, he leaned against the wall instead. He noted that the muscles in his arms were protesting against lifting an entire person. Amakata may be sick, but Gorou himself wasn’t at his best, either.

It was quiet, so Gorou let himself zone out for a bit. He’d given up his coat, so he was starting to feel a little chilly. The hairs on his arms were standing right upright. And the skin on his face was crawling slightly, making his nose itch--

Oh Jesus Christ.

Gorou tried his very best to remove himself from the situation, but before he could get far, he sneezed with the power of a million suns. Just his luck – he was trying so hard to be quiet.

Naturally, Amakata stirred and sat up. Her sleepy eyes met his guilty ones, and Gorou grimaced. “Sorry,” he said, sniffling less-than-charmingly. “I woke you up.”

She gave him a small smile. “It’s fine,” she said. “I shouldn’t have fallen asleep in the first place. What time is it, Mr Sasabe?”

“Please call me Gorou. ‘Mr’ makes me feel old as hell.” He pulled out his phone – the screen seemed very bright in the dimly-lit aquarium – and checked the time. “It’s a little past ten. You slept for about fifteen minutes, I think.”

“Good,” Amakata replied. “I didn’t come along on this trip just to sleep all day.” She rubbed her eyes, and fixed her hair a little – it had gotten mussed in her brief sleep. “How about we join the students from now on? I’m sure they’ll think us boring if we keep staying aside like old people.”

Gorou snorted. “Sure. I take it you’re feeling better, then?”

“A little. I’ll be okay. Don’t worry, Mr- uh, Gorou.”

His grin was so wide, you could probably see it all the way from Iwatobi. “Let’s go, then.”

They joined the kids again. If Amakata still wasn’t feeling well, then she knew how to hide it. She seemed to be her usual cheerful self, if a bit more nasal-sounding. Gorou kept an eye on her, regardless – just in case.

All was going well. The group moved from room to room, observing all sorts of sea creatures. Amakata seemed amazed by a small tank with the tiniest little fish that shimmered in the lamplight. She didn’t, however, seem to like the tunnel underneath the shark exhibit, and wouldn’t move until Gorou took her hand and carefully pulled her along. Nagisa did the same thing with Rei, although he was less gentle; the deadlock grip Nagisa had on his hand almost made Rei fall over in his protesting.

And so they went along, Gorou holding Amakata’s hand as they braved the tunnel, and Nagisa practically dragging his friend along. Haru had stayed behind somewhere to stare, probably astounded by the sheer volume of water around him. Makoto stood next to him, waiting for him to move again.

Behind the tunnel, a darker room waited. The small exhibit was lit here and there with neon lights, coloring the room bright blue and green and purple. It looked pretty cool.

Gorou didn’t get much of a chance to consider the atmosphere, though. Before he’d even fully entered the room, a spike of headache forced itself through his skull.

He cringed deeply, suddenly rooted to the spot. “Ow,” he muttered, raising one hand to rub at his eyes. “Holy crap. That’s not fun.”

“Gorou?” Amakata asked softly. “Is everything all right?”

Gorou inhaled once, sharply. There was no need to cause a scene. It was just a headache. It wasn’t even that bad, it’d just taken him by surprise. “I’m good,” he replied. “Headache. It’s fine.”

Amakata looked around, let her smart eyes and analytic brain do the work for her. “It’s the lights, isn’t it?” she then asked. “Neon usually isn’t all that nice to one’s head.” She squeezed his hand, which he realized she was still holding. “There’s a cafeteria right up ahead. It might be better to wait there for a moment.”

Sounded like a good idea. Gorou just wanted to get out of this room. It might be warmer in the cafeteria, too – he was positively freezing right now. He turned around to the kids. “Yo,” he called, hating how loud his voice sounded to his own ears. “Ms Amakata and me are going ahead to the cafeteria, alright? The lights in here are screwing with my head a bit.”

“Oh! Wait, Coach!” Nagisa replied, turning around from where he’d been staring at a piranha. “I’m getting hungry. We could all come along and eat lunch in the cafeteria while we’re at it.”

So the kids came along. The cafeteria was calm; it was too early for the average visitor to eat lunch. The group found a six-person table in the corner, one with a couch. Gorou claimed the couch for Amakata and himself.

The kids ordered lunch – Gorou’s head currently felt too full for appetite, and Amakata said that she wasn’t hungry – and chatted quietly among themselves. They weren’t paying attention to the adults, which was fine with Gorou, because he didn’t really have the energy to have a conversation right now.

Neither did Amakata, apparently. She was leaning heavily against Gorou’s shoulder again, fast asleep. Gorou understood; today was pretty tiring, and the cafeteria was warm, and the customers’ chatter was quiet and kind of comforting…

Before long, he’d fallen asleep as well.

* * *

Nagisa was the first to notice that both adults were sleeping like babies. “Guys,” he whispered rather loudly, “guys. Look.”

“Oh,” Makoto replied, a soft smile on his face. “They really must be feeling out of it, then. That sucks.”

“What do you mean?” Haru was, naturally, oblivious.

“Nothing, really. They just weren’t feeling well.”

“Well, what are we going to do now?” Rei asked. “We can’t really drag them along through the rest of the aquarium, can we?”

“We’ll see,” Makoto replied. “For now, let’s just eat lunch and leave them alone. We’ll think of what we’re going to do afterwards.”

It was silent for all of five seconds before Nagisa asked: “Can I draw a mustache on them?”

“Nagisa, no!” Rei half-yelled, before remembering that he should be quiet. “That’s incredibly disrespectful.”

Nagisa whined. “Can I at least take a picture with them?” he asked. “To send to Rin. I’m sure he’s curious how our trip is going.”

“Why would you--” Rei started, but he cut himself off. “You know what, I’m not even going to question that. Let’s just do it, if it makes you happy.”

And so Rin received a message with a group selfie – four friends and two sleeping adults.

He didn’t even bother replying to that. Sometimes, there were no words needed to show that his friends positively weirded him out sometimes.

-END-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this concluding chapter! Please leave kudos or a comment if you did! The Free! fandom is a little dead right now, so I'm glad that you, at least, found this story and decided to read until here!
> 
> Although this is the last chapter of the story, it's not the last chapter I'll post! Stick around for a bonus chapter about the Samezuka gang, featuring our boys Sousuke, Momo and Ai, and a very exasperated Rin who tries to take care of them.


	7. Bonus: Sousuke, Momo and Ai

The moment Rin had been woken by the announcement that the entire Samezuka team had been floored by the flu, he knew that this day was going to suck ass and a half. It was now about two hours later, and he hadn’t been proven wrong just yet.

First of all, the healthy members of the Samezuka swim team were outnumbered by the sick by five to one. Which was insane. Rin had never seen so many sick people in one place, and frankly, he felt like he should be fearing for his life.

And secondly, the fact that Momo deemed it necessary to follow him everywhere, didn’t really make his day better either.

“Momo,” Rin said for the twentieth time, when the kid followed him into the kitchen.

“What?” Momo asked, also for the twentieth time.

“Don’t you have anything better to do? Homework, or something?”

Momo grumbled, and dramatically draped himself over the counter. “I can’t focus!”

“Have you even _tried_?”

“Earlier today. For ten whole minutes. But I just couldn’t read the pages. I feel like I don’t have any brain left!”

“Huh. What else is new,” Rin muttered under his breath, grabbing a mug from the cupboard and inspecting the inside – some of the other guys slacked off when washing dishes sometimes. “Listen, Momo. You can’t keep following me around.”

“What? Why?” _How_ was he even shocked by that?

“Firstly,” Rin said, “because you’re loud. And we’re walking through hallways all the time when people try to sleep. Which means you should be quiet.” He talked as he put the kettle on.

“I can be quiet,” Momo protested, loudly.

“See? Point proven.” Rin rummaged around to find some tea. They were rapidly running out; someone was probably going to have to go on a grocery run later. Or, wait. It was Sunday, so the stores were closed. Well, crap.

“And secondly,” he continued when he’d finally found a teabag, “you shouldn’t be up all day, because you’re sick. You’re just going to keep yourself sick for longer.”

“I know,” Momo replied. “I know. I’ll take a nap when I get tired, I promise. But for now I’m too bored to sleep.”

“I think you should take a nap right now.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re loud,” Rin quipped easily, “and people are trying to sleep. I’m serious, Momo. Go to bed. You were up far too early this morning, and you should probably lie down before you crash.”

Momo whined loudly. He hadn’t stopped complaining by the time the kettle beeped, or by the time the tea had finished seeping.

By then, Rin just turned around to him, and raised his eyebrows at him. “Are you done?”

Momo sighed deeply. “Yeah,” he replied, to Rin’s everlasting surprise. “Fine. I’ll go to bed. I’ll see you later, Rin.”

Rin watched him leave. Momo could be a pain in the ass, but at least he knew what was good for him. Unlike a certain _other _pain in the ass, to whom Rin was headed now.

It felt weird to knock on the door to his own room. “Sousuke?” he called, not too loudly. “I’m coming in.”

He didn’t bother answering, so Rin pushed the door open, careful not to spill any tea. “I got you some tea,” he said, closing the door behind him again. “You’re gonna have to sit up to drink it, though.”

That prompted some movement in the top bunk bed. Sousuke sat up, slowly, and gave Rin a groggy frown.

Rin grinned in return. “Mornin’, sunshine.” He walked closer to the bed and held the mug of tea up. Sousuke took it. He moved as if he were still half asleep.

“Thanks,” he muttered. It was hard to notice when he spoke so quietly, but the guy barely had any voice left. Rin hoped that the tea would help with that; it couldn’t be comfortable to have your voice rasp _that_ much.

Rin pulled a desk chair close to the bed and stood on it, so that he could look his friend in the eye. “Hi,” he said again.

“Hi,” Sousuke deadpanned back at him.

“How’re you holding up in here? Still alive?”

Sousuke shrugged, and took a sip of his tea. “Throat hurts.”

“Yeah. I thought so. Hence the tea.”

“Yeah.” He took another sip, and continued, to Rin’s alarm: “In fact, I think everything hurts. I’m not having the best time right now. Thanks for the tea, still. It helps.”

Oh, he wasn’t getting off the hook just by changing the subject. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

Sousuke’s eyebrows quirked up at the anxiety in Rin’s voice. “Rin, relax. It’s just the flu. I can sleep it off.”

“Are you sure?”

“Muscles sometimes hurt when you’re sick. It’s fine.”

“How’s your shoulder?”

Sousuke’s eyes widened just slightly with understanding. Yeah, that was right: Rin wasn’t _just_ overreacting, he was overreacting with a very good reason. “It’s really not worse than usual,” he said seriously. “Like I said. Just some achy muscles.”

“Okay, then.” Rin could physically feel the tension fall from his body. “If you say so.”

“I say so.” Sousuke decisively took a gulp of his tea, and immediately choked on it. “Jesus Christ,” he uttered in between coughs. “That’s hotter than I thought.”

“Yeah. That’s the thing with hot drinks. They tend to be hot.”

“Thanks, you asshole.” Sousuke sighed and rubbed his throat. “Ow.” His voice was nothing more than a rough whisper.

“I won’t keep you talking,” Rin said – he didn’t want his friend to lose his voice completely. “Are you going to survive when I leave?”

Sousuke glared at him. “Yeah.”

“You sure? Death by tea seems like a pretty sucky way to go.” Rin stepped down from the desk chair. He raised his hand in a peace sign at Sousuke when he neared the door. “I’m gonna go check if Momo’s killed Ai yet. I just realized the poor kid is left alone in a room with that lunatic. See you later.” At Sousuke’s grunt of approval, Rin left the room.

Momo’s and Ai’s room was suspiciously quiet, considering that Rin had expected to hear Momo talking through the walls. That meant that either Momo had listened to Rin’s advice and had actually gone to sleep, or that he hadn’t listened and wasn’t even in the room.

Rin didn’t knock, for the off chance that Momo was asleep – but those hopes were immediately crushed when he noticed that the lights were on in the room. Ai sat in the middle of the room, on the floor, reading. Momo was nowhere to be seen.

Ai looked up when Rin entered the room. “Oh. It’s you. Hi, Rin. I thought you were Momo.”

Rin clicked his tongue. “So you haven’t seen the problem child either, have you?”

“No.” Ai shook his head. “I saw him an hour and a half ago, for the last time. He was annoyed that he couldn’t fall asleep, so he left.”

“Yeah, I know. He decided to follow me around for an hour or so.”

“Oh. I wouldn’t have expected otherwise.”

Rin sighed. “I’ll go collect him, then,” he said. “He really doesn’t know when to stop. It’s not right to be on your feet so much when you’re sick.” He turned around, right before leaving the room. “Ai? Do you want to come along? Might be good to stretch your legs a little.”

Ai shrugged, and put his book away. “All right.”

They left the room together. The entire second floor seemed to be barren, so Rin and Ai headed for the common room, downstairs – maybe Momo had sat himself down there to play video games.

Rin eyed Ai when they descended the stairs. “Aren’t you cold?” he asked, nodding at Ai’s T-shirt and bare feet.

“Not really. I’ve been too warm all day.”

“Alright, then,” Rin said. “As long as you don’t catch your death.”

“I won’t.”

Rin grinned at the decisiveness in the kid’s voice. A year ago, anything Rin said could’ve reduced Ai to a stuttering mess. He seemed far more certain of himself, now. Ai’d surely make a great captain when Rin left for Australia.

They’d reached the door to the common room by that point. The room seemed quiet; none of the usual sounds (and shrieks) that came with Momo playing video games. The lights were off, too, Rin noticed when he opened the door. Apart from the pale light that came in through the windows, the room was dark.

And in that pale light, Rin noticed a yellow T-shirt and a head of red hair. Comfortably curled up on the couch.

Rin closed the door again, as quietly as he could.

Ai watched him with raised eyebrows. “Is something wrong?”

Rin shook his head. He couldn’t stop a grin from forming on his face. “Momo fell asleep on the couch,” he whispered. “Guess he listened to me after all. Who’d’ve thought.” He snorted. “Sorry I dragged you out here, Ai. There’s nothing much interesting going on.”

“That’s alright,” Ai replied. “Now that I know that Momo’s gonna stay away for a bit, at least I might be able to sleep a little myself.” He smiled at Rin and said cheerfully: “I’m going to bed.”

Rin watched him leave, hands on his hips and shaking his head a little. Who would’ve thought that people could get so happy from the knowledge that Momo was going to stay away from them? The kid’d probably scream if he knew about that.

Rin idled in the hallway for a bit, wondering what he should do now to keep himself busy. Maybe he could go and keep Sousuke company for a bit longer. He might like that. Or not. At least he wouldn’t be bored.

But when Rin went into his room, Sousuke was already asleep. And Rin knew how Sousuke slept – the Earth could explode and it still wouldn’t wake him.

There was nothing left to do. Rin closed the door quietly, and went to make a cup of tea for himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that was the very last chapter of this story! I really hope it was as fun to read as it was to write. This fic hasn't been attracting a whole lot of readers, but I had a blast with it anyway. It's fun to imagine the whole cast of Free! as huge disaster humans.
> 
> Anyway, please leave a comment or kudos if you liked this fic! I'll definitely appreciate that! Thank you for reading~


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